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Another in a seemingly endless series of very busy weeks but we’ve got you covered. First up: The Oracle himself, Governor Haley Barbour. He’s got a perspective of 50 years in politics, so we thought we have him on to see what he thinks of the last few months. Prepared to get schooled. Then, as freedom of speech on digital platforms –like the one you’re reading right now– is now one of the most important issues facing society, we thought we have on someone who is on the front lines of the debate. Meet Venture Capitalist and fierce 1st Amendment advocate David Sacks (and be sure to watch the extended cut David’s segment in our new members only feature, Rob Long’s Six Dumb Questions which can be found here). Also, impeachment, Pelosi, and yes, Rob Long predicts the coming re-unification of the Republican Party. You heard it here first.
Music from this week’s show: Man Out of Time by Elvis Costello
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I’m partial to the interpretation that the House voted to impeach the President. If by the time the Senate gets around to addressing the articles Biden is the President, hold the trial and remove Biden. The first impeachment was to cover for Biden anyway.
Foghorn Leghorn for President 2024!
Sadly, the voice of Foghorn Leghorn was Mel Blanc, who died in 1989. But he still sounds better than Biden.
No dispute about Foghorn being the greatest Loony Tune character is there? Something about Foghorn whacking the dog with the 2X4 that I could watch all day.
“Fortunately I have mah feathers numbered for just such an occasion.”
Greatest second tier character, perhaps. But he’s no Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck. I present this excerpt of The Rabbit of Seville as evidence:
I have been trying to find the cartoon where Mrs. Daffy keeps exhorting Daffy to “SIT ON THAT EGG!” under penalty of death.
And Daffy Duck’s popularity lives on:
Look, I’ll grant that Elmer Fudd is The Indispensable Man and that Bug’s body of work speaks for itself. But really how does it match up with the surrounding cast of the chicken hawk, Foghorn’s nephew, Rhode Island Red, Henrietta and the aforementioned guard dog’s hind?
The best!
Sylvester Junior wins with just two lines – “Oh the shame of it” and “Oh Father”, accompanied by a paper bag over his head.
Epic Miffed. Gives me pause for reflection. Still:
“Boy’s about as sharp as a bowling ball”
Haley is a dinosaur. Magnificent, majestic, but really not adapted to thrive in our crazy future.
We should listen, but find ways to adapt it to now.
I’m not sure if it’s adaptable. It may not be.
Biden IS Foghorn Leghorn, without the accent.
“Nice girl, but about as sharp as a sack of wet mice.”
Oh no. Foghorn at least had some southern charm.
Well you do have a point there.
@James Lileks, Your question to Haley, and your conclusion at the end regarding the, I’ll say fecklessness, of the GOP is right on. The GOP can present itself as a party of ideas all it wants. The difficulty I have with so many of the Politicians of the GOP is that they are politicians. They present grand sounding ideas then once in office appear to forget those ideas and ideals that they beguiled us with. As I see it, if the GOP is to somehow unite once again it needs to be more than ideas. Those asking for our votes need to be HONEST. Don’t promise what you know you can’t deliver on. Don’t state that you will stand for something then roll over when you encounter the DC oligarchy. We know keeping a republic is hard and DC has become imperial Rome.
Why the rise of populism? The people are tired of being lied to and talked down to. To my view the GOP has been as complicit in this as the DEMS, perhaps even more so.
Trump showed us what could actually get done in four years by a results-oriented doer who did not live off of taxpayers or need lobbyist money. The contrast is stunning. Clearly, he had to be stopped. Anyone who still thinks the GOP can go back to business as usual is living in an titanium bubble.
He stopped himself by acting like a fool so many times and especially after the election. Who wants business as usual? People want someone who can get elected, fight and get things done without acting like Trump. People like that exist. It doesn’t have to be Trump. It can’t be Trump ever again.
Who do you have in mind?
I really wish Trump would have just worried about one term and sticking to the Ann Coulter agenda. Get rid of the ACA. Put up the wall. Make Chris Knoblock the immigration enforcer. I’m not going to get into the weeds, but I think he really did do poorly with personnel. Getting reelected is just too hard for him to manage given his deficiencies and what he’s actually interested in. I really hate these last two months.
Yes, name one not living off of taxpayers or relying on lobbyist support.
You don’t think Trump lives off taxpayers? He raised millions with his nonsense over the last 2 months. I like several people. Cotton, Desantis, Haley, Noem. Still like Rubio.
We can’t win with Trump supporters as it stands now anyway. They only vote Republican if he is on the ticket and stay home for midterms. Trump supporters hate Republicans more than Democrats and are very willing to cut off their nose to spite their face.
Are you willfully trying to avoid what I am actually asking?
Why don’t you explain what you actually mean by “living off the taxpayers”? Because I thought he answered your question too.
Answered. You appear to believe that only Trump will do. That is delusional.
Politicians and govt bureaucrats live off of taxpayers, not in and of itself a bad thing, but let’s not pretend that there is no obvious long-term pattern of people going into politics and having their principles compromised by the need or desire for money, and owing favors based on being funded. Including GOP. At the expense of taxpayers. Examples are legion, and the rule rather than the exception.
Although I did not vote for Trump in 2016, for all the obvious reasons, the Russia Hoax did reveal how politicians on both sides conspired to withhold evidence of the hoax. Because he had no need for anyone’s money, he had no reason to act as a politician does.
Instead, he acted as a CEO does, setting goals and achieving them, despite the freaking out of politicians and bureaucrats, who could not face their ongoing failures and the threat of their irrelevance in a results-oriented environment.
Trump’s unwillingness/inability to be political resulted in his trusting political people who did not support his methods, CEO methods. It quite literally freaked them out, because they fed off a system that rewarded a lack of accountability at the expense of taxpayers.
And that could not be tolerated by the political class. He discovered too late how entrenched that political cancer had metastasized, mostly unconsciously, in people who have no idea how to achieve through sheer merit.
So when someone claims that there are plenty like Trump (and no, I don’t think the ONLY answer is Trump), answering with the names of politicians reveals either a profound blind spot or willful avoidance of what I am asking.
Is that more clear?